CS:GO

2 years agoSK Finishes First in ESL Pro League Season 5 Online Stage
Daniel Wagner

ESL Pro League Season 5 is wrapped up and for us, it ended the same way it started - in the first place. After 24 games, our team recorded 54 points and landed at the top spot of the scoreboard, which gives our players the right to compete in the LAN Finals in Dallas from May 31st to June 4th. The twelve qualified teams will compete for the total amount of $750,000 in prize money. Last year the Americans of Cloud 9 came out on top after finishing first in the North American qualifying stage. Since we ended up in that spot this time, we hope that there will be a similar outcome for the first placed North American team. But before we get back to the ESL Pro League Season 5 LAN Finals, let’s take a look back and examine how our Counter Strike division got there.

Right from the get go, the Brazilians started out in a dominant way and recorded twelve consecutive wins during the first half of the competition. On their path to cementing the top rank on the scoreboard the likes of Immortals, compLexity Gaming, Rush, Luminosity Gaming, Selfless Gaming and Misfits all fell short in a conclusive manner. The only close contest during this stretch was on Mirage against Rush in Week 3, where our IGL Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo strapped his teammates on his back and carried them to a 19-17 overtime win while posting a 34/18 K/D.

After fifty percent of the games, our men were practically already qualified for the LAN Finals where the first six of all fourteen squads get the chance to compete. The sixth team, OpTic Gaming, ended up with just two more wins than we had at the midway point of the qualifying stage and is also the team who handed us our first loss in the 13th game, which was a close 14-16 on Train. Jason 'jasonR' Ruchelski was a stand in for our opponent, displayed great chemistry with his teammates on Train and in the end the game came down to nuances. In the following weeks we split games 1-1 against Renegades, Cloud9 and Team Liquid. The Season capped off with two wins versus NRG eSports and two losses against Counter Logic Gaming. Our final record is 18-6 but most of the six losses occured, when the participation in the upcoming LAN Finals was already secured.

Our team is coming off two tournament wins in a row (click here and here) and will try to get their third consecutive trophy on the heels of a successful and dominant qualifying stage. In the European group, the squads of North, G2 eSports, Mousesports, Fnatic, Natus Vincere and Team EnVyUs finished in the six upper seeds and will try to deny our title aspirations. Team Liquid, Immortals, NRG eSports, Cloud9 and OpTic Gaming complete the North American participants of the LAN Finals. You can find the final scoreboards of ESL Pro League Season 5 down below.